Process of making glace fruit



E. E. JACOBS Filed July 15. 1925' 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 lA/VENTOR. (5.

9 Jays; 2 (r I q Armlazvs June 7, 1927.

PROCESS FOR MAKING GLACE FRUIT 1-,es1..4s7 June Z, 1927. w E. E. JACOBS PROCESS FOR MAKING'GLACEJ FRUIT Filed July 15. 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 ATTORNEYS.

Press June 7,. 1927.

TPATENT Fi 1 $7 $1 1 L 4 nn-nn'scr ENGLER zrecons', on sen rnanorsoo, GALIFQBNi-AQ assrenoe 'ro-" LYons CALIFORNIA eLAcn rnnr'r (COMPANY, or sen rnnncrsco, CALIFORNIA, A con.-

PORATION OF CALIFORNIA.

rnodnss on MAKING enact. ram.

/App-lieation filed. my 15, i925. Serial no. 43,666.

invention relates to an improved process and apparatus for cooking" and treating fruit m the preparation-of glace fruit therefrom. As is well known, glac 4 keep in the open air for a;.considerable period of timewithont fermentation or. 'de-' terioration. It is, of course, of great importance to so treat-the .fruitthat the same retains its original shape, color,v and 'fiavor, asfar as possible. The process of preparing glac fruit as nowcarried out is a lon and tedious operation; It is the primary ob ject ofmy invention to provide a new and improved process and apparatus'for treating the. fruit in a greatly improved manner with far less labor and expense. inless tune,

' and to produce thereby a product superior.

in shape, color, flavor, and keeping qualities.

The present method of...prepar1ng glace fruit is substantially as follows: The fruit is first prepared. by being] washed and blanched, such fruits aspears, pineapples,

etc., being also peeled. The .lolanching 1s v substantially a pre-cooking. operation in hot water to make the fruit more tender and more receptive to the treatment which fol". lows. Small quantities .(fifteento' twenty pounds) of fruit are placed and allowed to cook and soak in hot syrup in small-steam- 4 The fruit is @subjectedto several (usually four to six) of such, c'ookings successively, the'gsyrup being increased in density. at ;each cooking until i i suificient density has been obtained ,toprevent fermentation of the fruit. This process is long and tedious, taking from ten days to two weeks to complete .the same; The fruit isthereafter removed from the kettles and allowed to soak in a heavy syrup. to.

thoroughly saturate the fruit therewith. To establish equilibrium ,between the light syrup in the fruit and this heavier syrup surrounding the fruit usually requires about thirty days. To thereafter prepare the fruit for packing, the same is removed tromfthe syrup, dippedrin hot water. to remove the exeessgsyrup, and thereafter dipped in a heavy. glazing syrup. .lMy improved process, as will hereinafter appear, not only completely prepares the fruit for the glazing thereof in a greatly 1e.

du'cedamount of timeand with far less eX pense, but also results in a greatly improyed 7 product.

In my a large quantity of fruit in small containdlingjof the fruit is thereby rendered un- I necessary, the airis sucked from the fruit without affecting the fruit juices, and the syrup permeates the, fruit byi'taking the place of the exhausted air. The entire process is ordinarily completedfin .about eight hours. It will be clear that this treatment not only preserves the true flavor j and c'olorof the. fruit,..but, due to less:han;--

dli'ng and more equalized'cooking, the samealso maintains its original shape." ,7 The.

fruit isthereafterpermitted to stand in the syrup amtil equilibrium is...established be-.7 5

tween the syrup within "the fruit and the syrup'surrounding the fruit. This process ordinarily is completed within twentyfour;

hours." The fruit then :readyto be dipped; 1n glazing syrup and dried ior packing in the usual manner. It is an object of myin ventlonto provide an improved process and apparatus for treating the fruit in this improved manner.

In the; accompanying drawings, I have shown. one specific embodiment :of an, 21p v paratusior carrying out my process It;

will be understood, however, that the inven-.

tion can be embOdiedYother-WiSe, andthe drawings are not to be construed as des fin ng or limiting the. :scopejot the inven tion, the claims appended to thisi-S peci ication being relied-upon for that purpose. I

ing

. :Referring to the: figures of ,the: d w? Fig.1 1s a sectional elevation through a vacuum kettle embodying my invention.

Fig. .2 is .a is sectional View thereof, the

fruit containers be ing removed v Fig. 3 is an enlarged elevation showing three of the stacked truit containers. 1

The apparatus as illustrated comprises "a vaouumwkettle 1 supported-by uprightelements 2. I A heating-jacketfi surrounds the.

lower portion of the kettle, the jacket ;hav-.v ing an inlet 4 and 'an outlet 5. Mounted on' a support '6' and extending vertically up- ,ward through the'center of the kettle isa shaft 7. This shaft is provided with a supporting frame for carrying a plurality of fruit containers or pans 8.

This frame comprises a horizontal platform 9 resting on the support 6. An upper spider comprising a plurality of radial arms 0 through of a size to receive the reduced pan bottoms therein as illustrated in Fig. 3. The pans are adapted to be stacked in the manner indicated, each pan bottom resting within an opening 15 or within the top of the supporting pan beneath. The top pan is provided with a perforated cover 16 having holding clamps 17 thereon and a weight 18 is also preferably placed thereon to assure holding the cover in place. The platform is also perforatedwith a plurality of holes 19.

A man-hole 20 is provided in the .side of the kettle, the same being air-tight door 21 having a sight glass 22 therein. When inserting or removing the containers 8 through the man-hole, the platform 19 can be rotated to convenient positions therefor by a chain connected to the shaft 7 through ashaft 2 1 and bevel gears 25.

y p Can be dr m The air is adapted to be exhausted from the kettle through a pipe 26, a gauge 27 being adapted to indicate the amount of such exhaustion. A valve is provided at 28 for permitting the entrance of air when it is desired to break the vacuum within the kettle. A sight glass 29 is also preferably placed in the top of the kettle. P

A sampler for the syrup within the kettle is provided at 30, the sampler entering the kettle at 31 and 32 and having controlling valves 33 and 34. A'thermometer 35 is adapted to indicate the temperature of the syrup. After the cooking operation, the the kettle through a. drain 36.- I

The process as carried out by this apparatus will now be described.

The fruit isprepared and blanched in the usual manner and then placed in the eoned, with no syrup in the kettle.

tainers 8, the containers thereafter belng arranged in stacked relation on the platform 9 within the kettle as illustrated. The kettle is closed and the fruit completely covered with cold syrup of 82 Baum or 28 boiling. .The fruit. is permitted to thus stand for about one hour, the syrup being thereafter drawn off and the vacuum pump start- The kettle is held under twenty inches of vacuum for live minutes to draw as much air from the fruit as possible. Sufficient of the syrup provided with an which was drawn therefromis then allowed tov enter the kettle to cover the pans and about twenty-five per cent excess. The temperature of the syrup is thereafter brought to 140 F. to 150 F. with a vacuum of twenty-five to twenty-six inches and held constant until cooking iscompleted (usually about four to live hours).

As the syrup concentrates and the level lowers in the kettle, the same is replaced by permitting syrup of the same density as that in thc kettle at that time to enter through the opening 36. This density is determined by sampling the syrup through the sampler 30. As the syrup concentrates, thetemperature will rise 10 F to 15 F. During this rise the vacuum should be held constant. lVhen the syrup has reached a density of 38 Baume, the cooking is discontinued, the vacuum pump stopped, and the vacuum broke by opening the valve 28.,

The syrup is then drawn from the kettle and when su'liicient-ly cool the containers 8 are removed. The fruit is then placed in the usual storage pans, covered with the drained syrup and stored therein until needed for packing. During this time. equilibrium is established between the density of the thinner syrup within the fruit and the thicker syrup surrounding the same. Such equilibrium ordinarily takes place within about twenty-fourhours and after this time the fruit can be removed glazed, and packed.

It should be noted that my process. as above described is particularly adapted for the cooking and treating of fruit in prepau, ing glac fruit therefrom. This process difiers inmany material respects from ordinary vacuum cooking. In ordinary vacuum cooking, the highest vacuum and low est te mperatiue obtainable is ordinarily used, and the concentrationof the product is as rapid as possible. the main object being to have a. very rapid concentration and low temperature. In my process, the use of vacuum is not merely to concentrate the syrup, but to prevent the esters or flavor bodies in the fruit frombeingbroken down and destroyed. My process 1s not part1cularly concerned therefore with rapid concen I iso saturated with syrup.

ture required, the amount of fruit'handle'd the relative density of air and the fruit juices. Hence, itis seen that, 'dueto this property, the fruit uices remain in the fruitand it is only the air spaces which are Thus, the vacuumcooked fruit retains the natural flavor of the fruit by retaining thesefruit juices.

,It may furthermore be stated that the glace fruit prepared by my improved process has far greater keeping equalities than that cooked by the old method. Fruit prepared by the old' method becomes hard and unfit forfico'nsumption. after about eight months, while fruit that has been preparedby my' improved vacuum method has by actual test, after a period of fourteen months,

retained its original tenderness and edible qualities. Judging from this test, it is believed that this fruit should remain in good condition over a period of years. This can not be done with fruit preparedby theold method as heretofore practiced. 1 1

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secureby Letters Patent isp I f i i 1. A- process of preparing glac fruit which'comprises the steps of preparing the fruit, blanching the fruit in water to render it tender, permitting the fruit to remain submerged in cold syrup for a short period of time to remove the water therefrom and treat'the fruit so that the cells not be-ii come disrupted, then cooking the fruitin in a manner saturating the fruit with the syrup, and thereafter permitting the fruit,

to stand in the solution until equilibrium takes place betweenthe syrup in the fruit and the syrup surrounding the'fruit;

2. A, process of preparing glace' fruit j the syrup solution while under vacuumand, e

which comprisesthe. steps of preparing the fruit, blanching the fruit to render it ten" der, perinittingtlie fruit to remain in cold syrup of a determined densityfor a short" period of time to remove the water therefrom and treat the fruit so thatthe cells will not become disrupted, then removing the syrup and placing the fruit under vacuum to draw the air therefrom, thenresubmerging the fruit in; the syrup without breaking the vacuum, then cooking the fruit in the syrup under a constantvacuum until the syrup solution reaches a predetermined density, and thereafter permittingthev'fruit to stand in syrup solution until equilibrium and the syrup surrounding the fruit. I

3. A process of preparing glac fruit which comprises the stepsof'blanchingthe fruit, permitting the fruit to remain submerged in cold syrup fora short period of time, then removing thesyrup a-ndSsubjectmg the fruit to a vacuum'ofabout twenty takes place between the syrup in theffruitg Fl inches for fiveininutes, addinga sugar'syrup solution. to the fruit to surround the same,

cooking the fruit in thesugar solution ata temperature of approximately F. to Ffwith a vacuum of approximately twenty-five inches until the cooking is com pleted, and thereafter permitting the fruit to stand in the syrupsolution until equilib rium takes place between the syrup in the fruit and the syrup surrounding the fruit. I

'ERN'EST'ENGLER JACOBS. 

